


Erasure

by cruisedirector



Category: The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: contrelamontre, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-06-12
Updated: 2003-06-12
Packaged: 2017-10-03 14:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruisedirector/pseuds/cruisedirector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Death diminishes everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Erasure

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the contrelamontre blended colors challenge. Characters by Tolkien, visual inspiration by Jackson.

By the time they move Boromir's corpse, all the dark spilled blood has soaked into the ground. There is only a dark stain on the earth that could be rainwater drying in the soil and on the leaves.

By the time they pull the arrows from Boromir's cooling body, the sweat and pus and gore on his clothing has dried. The rich burgundy cloth of Gondor, already faded and fraying from many weeks of travel, shows only faint discolorations under the arms and around the holes where the material was pierced. When they have finished cleaning and arranging his limbs, the subtle tinges are barely visible.

By the time they wash Boromir's face, the color has blanched from his lips, which are nearly as pale as the skin surrounding them. Streaks of dirt from the battle and from Aragorn's fingers rinse away, leaving smooth ashen flesh. On Boromir's hands, too, the skin has turned so fair that hard white sword-calluses and old scars hardly show. His eyelids begin to grow mottled as if all the color from his mouth had migrated to burst the tiny veins, but Aragorn tries not to look.

By the time they lower Boromir into the boat, the sun has shifted westward behind swift-moving clouds, dimming the brightness that welcomed them to Gondor. Boromir's hair, now clean and untangled, spreads about his head with diffuse radiance as well, catching the scattered light reflected from his shield. For a moment he looks much as he did when Aragorn first saw him with the light behind him, a bright spot of color in a fading landscape. Then the clouds shift, and it is the man who fades.

By the time they have loosed the boat upon the Great River, Boromir is still as a boulder, pale as a statue, already a subject for laments and songs. The silvery boat blends with the white-gray rapids of the Anduin as it disappears from view.


End file.
